A New Purpose
by Bremue
Summary: Jellal is set on atonement, and doing what he feels is right, but that can only last so long. Jerza :3 Takes place anywhere after the Grand Magic Games Arc.
1. Chapter 1

They were on a mission again, and it was nice. Just doing normal jobs again, where the fate of Fiore was not solely in their hands, a nice break to all the chaos lately, without the boredom of _nothing_ going on. Of course her "Fairy Tail Team" was with her: Natsu, Lucy, Gray and of course, Happy. However she had a sneaking suspicion that a certain water mage had secretly tagged along as well.

Thinking about Juvia's crush on Gray had made her thoughts turn to Jellal. She hadn't seen him in a few months. No, closer to a year… Damn time flew by quick. To tell the truth, she wasn't sure if it had been that long because of her, or if he was actually too busy to contact her since then. She was pretty sure that she could have easily ruined things between them during their last meeting. She had been… pushy, to say the least. She started to get nervous thinking about what she would do if he never wanted to see her again. Sure, she loved him in ways that went beyond friendship, but if she could not even have his friendship, well, she wasn't sure she could handle it.

"Yo Erza! We've got to be almost there, you know where we're supposed to be going right?" Natsu asked, snapping Erza out of her worried state.

She silently cursed herself for being so distracted for something as trivial as her personal life while on a mission.

"Natsu," she smirked, "Do you really think that I would let us get lost on a simple job? If you were leading us, maybe you could be worried, but the town is right over there." She laughed while pointing to a small town in the west.

"Hah!" Gray laughed in response to Erza's comment, while Natsu finally picked up on her teasing remark.

"YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY ICE PRINCESS?!" Natsu yelled at Gray, leaving Erza, Lucy, and Happy in giggles.

_Ahh, these are the times I've missed,_ She thought to herself.

"Even you Luce?" Natsu asked, seeming hurt, before realizing that without a scent for him to follow, they were probably right.

"Sorry Natsu", Lucy said, attempting to stifle her laughter.

"Well come on! We're just about there, let's hurry so we can get back before nightfall!" Erza exclaimed, running as the others followed her into the town the job request had specified.


	2. Chapter 2

Jellal had been spending every ounce of effort he could muster in the past 8 months, (3 weeks, and 4 days) working with his guild, Crime Sorcière. He had allowed himself one of the greatest pleasure he could ever had, something he could never deserve, and was determined to resume the atonement he had deserved several times over. It's not that he didn't want to see Erza again, Oh how he longed to see her again, but he was certain that even if he did not have atonement to fulfill, that what happened the last time they were together was a mistake that Erza would, or already had, come to realize in a matter of time.

Not to mention, that when he had times like this where they weren't doing anything, he unfortunately could not stay distracted enough on his own to not replay the last time he saw Erza in his head.


	3. Chapter 3

He had asked to meet with her, to discuss plans of contact in case "Mystogan" was ever needed by Fairy Tail again (at least that's what he had manage to convince himself). She had happily agreed, of course, which made him happy that he could have so much as a friendship with Erza, who was practically a deity in his mind. She gave him an address in a small town on the outskirts of Fiore to meet at.

_Perfect_, he thought, _somewhere where I won't be easily recognized._

He met her in the room she listed at a small inn, instantly inhaling her scent when he walked through the door. Any stress that he had about trying to keep a low profile had instantly vanished in the presence of Erza. He knew he was a fool for her, which was a dangerous situation to be in, considering how little he deserved anything that brought him happiness, let alone _her_. Still, if associating with her helped him atone for his numerous evil deeds, against society as a whole, and against Erza herself, then it was certainly a price he could pay.

They had been discussing business, and no one would have ever thought any differently, until Jellal found her hand holding his from across the table. He stuttered a bit when he noticed, but decided to ignore it and go on. Clearly it meant nothing; Erza was not so wanton as to do anything like that without only thinking platonically.

"Jellal," she said solemnly, "We almost never see each other, and when we do we never have much time to spend, and then how often are we not around everyone else?"

"Erza, you know as well as I do that we are both very busy doing things, and it's nice that we have the time that we do have right?" he responded with a smile, hoping to lift her spirits like she had to him so many times.

She smiled for a second, before looking sad again, and continuing on, "But it's not enough! After not being able to see the Jellal I knew for more than a day before you were taken into custody, it's not fair that I spend my entire life only seeing bits of you here and there."

Jellal was taken aback that it would bother her that much. "Erza," he softened, "I'm not sure about you, but being graced with your presence for more than a second is more than I could ever wish for."

Erza smiled and blushed at that. They continued talking and he noticed Erza's eyes had started to look… almost sleepy? She had started to talk a bit slower, and he feared that she was going to fall asleep on him.

Finally, Jellal had to cut in.

"Erza, are you tired? I can leave, we can talk about this another time," he offered.

Erza giggled and with a blush, shook her head, never breaking eye contact. He started to feel uneasy, but not necessarily in a bad way. Erza had now gotten out of her chair and started walking towards him

"Well..uh..What's wrong then?" he asked nervously.

Erza stood in front of him now.

With a glare that meant death if he didn't cooperate she demanded he stand up. Now he was all kinds of confused. What on earth was she doing? He thought they were having a nice conversation. Did he do something-

"Jellal."

"What?" he asked in horror, unsure of what she was going to do.

"Jellal, kiss me."


	4. Chapter 4

Jellal was stunned. Kiss her? It's not like he hadn't before, well, technically. Besides, what was she doing? He had even told her before he had a fiancée!

_Oh yes!_ He thought, _Here is my out._

"Erza, I already told yo-"

"Are you really gunna feed me that line again?" Erza asked, unsure of whether to be hurt or angry.

"Uh, what do you mean by that?" Jellal asked. There was no way she could have figured out that was a lie, how would she know?

"Face it Jellal, you've always been a terrible liar," Erza smirked, knowing she had him cornered.

"You should know, this is only the beginning of my atonement, something that one lifetime is not long enough for me to fully atone for, and-"

"Oh, you'll atone alright, I'll make damn sure of that," she cut in flirtatiously.

"Erza," Jellal said sternly, "I'm serious."

"Look, are you going to kiss me, or do I have to do everything for you?" she practically yelled at him. He had to want her too, right?

"I really shouldn't, have you even been listen-mmhm"

Erza's lips were on his before he even got to finish. He went to push her away, but she had learned from last time, and his attempt was in vain. He tried again to have her stop, but it only took a little bit longer and his mind went blank. Not empty, just, he couldn't think coherently anymore. For years he had distanced himself from Erza, but now here he was, completely lost in her.

Although not by much, he slowly became more aware. He realized that his Mystogan-style pants were now on the floor, next to the bed where Erza was on top of him, attempting to unwrap the linen from his body. She was doing surprisingly well, considering the fact that she was still kissing him. He knew he would regret it, he felt guilty enough already, but he was sure he could not resist for much longer. Erza finally stopped for air, taking advantage of the opportunity to get some serious progress on taking off whatever she could find that was covering the Heavenly Body mage's…well, heavenly body. Jellal sighed, and decided to give in to the wonderful things that she had her mind set on.

* * *

Jellal woke up the next morning, suddenly cold. He got out of bed only to realize; maybe the fact that he had nothing on had something to do with it.

_Then why am I only cold just now, what about the rest of the night?_

His face turned completely pink when he remembered what had occurred the previous night, answering his question. Shame and guilt ate at him as he realized what he had done, because he didn't have the self-control to deny himself.

_Selfish, selfish, SELFISH! I didn't deserve something like that with someone as perfect as Erza._

Only then did it occur to him that she was gone, along with all her belongings. He quickly got dressed (as quick as putting on his Mystogan attire allowed) and grabbed his things, assuming that she had realized the mistake she made by sleeping with him. Jellal left to return to his guild, accidentally leaving before he could see Erza's note on the table.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, Jellal, wake up! You've been asleep for hours now!" Meredy complained. He was usually always alert, and never just fell asleep. But then again he had been different the past several months.

"What?" he asked groggily, _Damn it. I asleep daydreaming again._ "I was just resting my eyes is all." He mumbled unconvincingly.

"Riiight, so tell me, are you still counting?"

"Of course I am, nothing has changed or anything," he sighed, "… after 269 days" he muttered quietly.

"Jellal, quit driving yourself crazy with this! You're not helping anything and this is starting to take a toll on your sanity and your sleep! Besides, she obviously doesn't resent you for it, she still sends you messages every once in a while."

Meredy was right, to a point of course. He didn't expect her to fully understand his predicament though. He couldn't just stop thinking about it. The feelings he had about these memories were tainted with guilt and sadness, as much as they were with happiness and love. It was a bitter burden to carry, but it was worth it several times over in some ways. He couldn't help but wonder what Erza thought of those same memories.


	6. Chapter 6

"Erza, how are you out of breath already?" Gray asked. The whole group was actually pretty concerned as to why she was out of breath not even halfway down the hill, while even Lucy was not even close to feeling run down. She _had_ almost won the 24 hour Fairy Tail annual race using her strength alone, leaving others in awe of her stamina.

"I'm just- *pant* not- *pant* feeling so good- *pant, pant* all of a sudden" Erza replied, leaving everyone's jaws on the floor. This was not the Titania they knew.

When Erza's breathing went back to normal, she laid down in the grass on the side of the road.

"I'm just gunna lay here for a little bit, I feel sick or something, I don't even really know… go on without me or something…" she rambled on.

"Well we're sure as hell not about to leave you!" Natsu yelled, offended she would even mention them abandoning her.

"Yeah," Gray chimed in, "What kind of team would we be if we left our team mates behind," he added in conviction.

Erza smiled, knowing they wouldn't really abandon her even if their lives depended on it.

"Thanks you guys, I'm feeling better now, let's go on again," Erza said, putting on a brave face. It was true she was feeling a _bit_ better, but she still didn't feel too okay. She had no idea what was wrong. She had eaten enough for sure, hah, she had even rivaled Natsu in the amount of food she was able to get down! Perhaps she had caught the flu, but it would just have to wait until this job was over.

* * *

"Well this doesn't look normal," Lucy remarked after they entered the village.

"Yeah, something doesn't quite smell right here," Natsu added, shortly after sniffing the air.

The town did have an eerie feel to it. It was strange that the village they were supposed to help looked deserted. As if no one had been there in over a hundred years.

They started looking through some of the buildings, each one deserted like the last. They headed down the street, looking into each house along the way until they hit the last house before the edge of the nearby forest. They had only been in the house for a few moments before they heard an explosion from outside.


	7. Chapter 7

"COME ON OUT, MEMBERS OF FAIRY TAIL, WE HAVE LURED YOU HERE TO DEFEAT YOU!" they all heard come from outside. Everyone made their way out of the current house they were in. Natsu was the first to speak:

"HEY YOU PUNKS, LISTEN UP, BECAUSE YOU'VE JUST TARGETED THE WRONG GUILD TO MESS WITH, AND IF YOU THINK YOU'RE GUNNA GET AWAY WITH IT, THINK AGAIN!"

"Ahhhh, young wizard, what you don't know, is that I have, in fact, picked EXACTLY the right guild to mess with. You see, if we defeat Fairy Tail, the guild who took down some of the strongest guilds known, then we will by default become one of the strongest guilds known." A hooded man said while walking out from behind a tree.

This time Gray spoke up.

"Idiot! Do you really think defeating just a few of our members is going to make you guys all of a sudden the strongest?" he scoffed. "If anything it shows that you are weak by only challenging a few of us, but by all means, take us on."

"Aye!" Happy chimed in.

"While taking on the entire guild and winning is preferable, we cannot afford that at the moment, so we will just have to settle for a few members. That in itself is enough to have word spread about our strength though, no need to worry your little heads about us. Come on out, our fight will now begin" he said calmly.

From their peripherals, they saw what looked like close to a hundred more come out from the trees.

"There, there, no need to look so frightened" he smiled wickedly at Lucy, noticing that she looked a little uncomfortable at the sight of all the soldiers.

"You're right, there is no need," Lucy said, taking a deep breath and calming herself, "After all, Erza, the mighty Titania, took on 100 monsters on her own, what's this to four of us?"

The man looked rather concerned at that.

"Actually Lucy, there's fi-"

"SHUT UP CAT!"

"Monsters and trained mages like ourselves, I think you will find, are two **very** different things." The man bit back angrily before sending an explosion heading towards Lucy.

In just the nick of time, Natsu had pushed Lucy out of the way. He laughed as he swallowed up the fire from the blast.

"Now I'm fired up!" he said, setting his fists aflame.

The man was now clearly concerned. A few of the other mages stepped back instinctively.

Could it be that he had picked a fight against Fairy Tail's Titania _and_ Salamander? This is exactly the kind of thing he had hoped to avoid by not challenging the guild itself. Regardless, it was too late to back out now. While he was thinking to himself, thankfully, his soldiers had started the fight.

Five had started heading towards Lucy, who brought out Taurus and Leo. She made a mental note to not summon the two of them out together again, although their competition for Lucy's attention _did_ have its benefits. They defeated the few soldiers with ease, preparing for more that were headed towards them, Lucy readying her whip.

Natsu was clearing each mage one by one, their terror immobilizing them, making it even easier for him.

Gray was unfortunately not as intimidating, so the soldiers did not have the same paralyzing fear coursing through their veins as the ones after Natsu. This made fighting them a little bit more difficult for him, although he was as much of a force to be reckoned with as Natsu. Just a bit into fighting and one of the mages had managed to cast an immobility spell on one of his legs, so he couldn't move properly.

"How dare you hurt my beloved Gray!" Juvia yelled at the soldiers, showing up out of nowhere.

Juvia used her water slicer to take out not only the mage casting the spell on Gray, but several others in her way. Gray was surprised Juvia was all of a sudden there, but right now was not the time for questions.

Speaking of questions, _Why on earth had Erza not requipped_? He thought to himself.

"Erza!" he yelled, "What the heck are you doing? Requip already!"

_Right_, she told herself, _just calm down and requip_.

In all honesty she was hoping that she wouldn't have to in this fight, because she was still not feeling right. In fact, she had actually started feeling worse again.

_This was no time to give in to discomfort,_ she thought to herself, _let's just get over it and do this._

She went to requip into her sword magic form, and instead of transforming, stumbled to the ground. The others calling her name was the last thing she was aware of before it went black.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been 273 days when he heard the news.

Jellal had been briefing the others about the latest dark guild on their list to go after. He had been spending the day with Meredy, planning who would attack how, so they would be utilizing their forces in the most effective way. Meredy would use her sensory link of course to keep everyone synchronized, which would make the damage all the more lethal.

That's when he received word from Porlyusica that Erza had fallen ill in combat, and Porlyusica had requested his presence immediately. Hah, even if Porlyusica demanded he stay away, he wasn't sure he could. He wasn't sure what Erza had wanted, but if she hadn't wanted him there, Porlyusica wouldn't have requested him to be there right?

He left within the hour to make sure he could get there as quickly as he could, the plan for the Dark Guild could wait a few days. It would be at least a day's trip before he got there and Jellal didn't want to wait any longer than he had to. On his way, he had to wonder, why is it that his presence was "requested"? He was nothing special to Erza. In fact, he had almost killed her once before. His thoughts were running through his head a mile a second. What if she was dying? Perhaps part of his atonement would have to be watching her die. He felt sick at the thought. He spent every bit of his free time on the way trying to project what would be positive thoughts on to Erza. He had done this a couple times before, when he swore they had a mental link or something, but he was sure it was all just in his head. Still, it made him feel happy knowing there was a possibility that maybe it did in fact help her. He continued his path to the nearest railway, so he could secretly board the next train.


	9. Chapter 9

Erza was dreaming about Jellal when she finally realized she had been sleeping. She felt like he had been reaching out to her, like the time she fought Azuma. But in her tired state, she knew she had a high propensity for her mind playing tricks on her. Erza opened her eyes, noticing it was dark, and she was in Porlyusica's house. Her intuition was telling her something was wrong.

_Why am I here of all places?_ She thought, _She doesn't even like people and only takes in those who are gravely ill._

Fear tightened around her throat as she remembered passing out just after requipping.

_Am I going to die?_

"Don't worry, you aren't in any danger. You got here the night you passed out. Natsu had Happy bring you here. I must say I am very disappointed in you Erza, in how careless and irresponsible you have been! Just when I thought I may be warming up to you." Porlyusica said disapprovingly.

Erza was glad she answered one of the questions on her mind, but now she had more.

_Irresponsible? Are you kidding me? How is getting sick irresponsible? _She thought to herself angrily, when a major cramp hit her abdomen.

_What. Was. That._

"Porlyusica, can you please tell me what's going on?" Erza said nervously.

"You mean you don't know? Even worse! You humans are absolutely unbelievable!" Porlyusica said exasperated, before continuing on: "You passed out several days ago, but I have been keeping you under a sleeping spell to keep your body out of shock and keep you from over-exerting yourself. Your magic energy has been massively depleted and it will be at least a week before you recover, depending on how soon you-"

Porlyusica stopped when she noticed Erza looked like she was about to cry.

"Please tell me what they've done to me. If it isn't sickness, then someone did this to me. And... I... just can't believe they robbed me of all my pride!" she yelled, "and I think-I mean did I really just pee myself?" she burst out sobbing.

Porlyusica sighed. "No, you didn't just do that, and for the record, nobody purposely did this to you."

"I'm not stupid, don't tell me I didn't when I know I did" she wailed.

"That would be your water breaking. Erza, you've been pregnant… for a while." Porlyusica explained. "Don't worry, the father should be on his way. I will be back in a little bit for the delivery, you are too much drama for me right now."

_Pregnant? The Father is on his way? TOO MUCH DRAMA? _Erza tried to get up to knock some sense into that smug woman, only to find that she had magically restrained her so she could not get up and move around.

_Smart woman_, she thought with an evil smile. _But just you wait till I'm out of this_.

Another pain hit her in her abdomen. _Pregnant. Right_. How was this possible again? And how did she not know?

_She said the father should be on his way… does she mean Jellal?_ A small blush went to her cheeks when she thought about seeing him, but it instantly turned to panic.

_Oh God, what if he is mad? What if he wants nothing to do with me? What if …. Wait a minute. How does Porlyusica know? She said the father, but I've only been with Jellal like that. Is it possible she knows we were together?  
_She took deep breaths until she had calmed herself. This started to make her sleepy, so she drifted off, thinking about the little Jellal that she was carrying, putting a smile on her face.


	10. Chapter 10

Jellal had gotten there in a day and a half, and with that amount of time on his hands, he had been going crazy. No one had said anything about Erza except she was sick "or something, I don't know" _Gah, how could they be so apathetic!_

He burst into Porlyusica's house to find Erza laying on a bed. He rushed to her side, finding her asleep and looking quite peaceful. He would have been able to admire her, if it wasn't for the fact that she looked pale and weak that was sending him into a mental frenzy. What happened to her! Whoever did this would pay, there was no doubt of that. _Still_, he smiled, _she managed to look remarkably beautiful_. He heard her start to wake.

"Jellal?" she looked up at him groggily and smiled. Wow, hearing her voice again did things to his heart that he couldn't explain.

"Yeah it's me," he said with a soft smile, "Where is everyone else? Are you feeling okay?" He tried his best to not overwhelm her.

"I'm not sure, you're the first person I've seen since I got here, except for Porlyusica. She told me the others have visited, but I've been asleep whenever they were here. Speaking of, I'm still recovering, so I'm still pretty sleepy." She said with a yawn.

"Recovering? So you're doing okay then?" He asked anxiously.

"I'm doing much better, seeing you again makes me feel a bit better too." She said with a light blush.

Jellal was glad she was feeling better, and that seeing him made her happy, but it made him a bit uncomfortable that she seemed so intent on seeing him. He just wanted her to find someone worthy enough for her, someone he was incapable of being.

"It's been so long since I've seen you. I can't even remember how long it's been -" Erza started, before Jellal interrupted.

"275 days," he blurted out, before he had time to catch himself.

"Aw, Jellal, Have you been counting?" she asked, blushing.

"Well it's how I've been keeping track of what day it is," he said attempting to justify himself. Erza giggled. He face palmed himself in embarrassment. _Great, I just made it sound worse. _Erza yawned again.

"Jellal," Ezra said sleepily, "Can you stay here with me? I like seeing your face when I wake up" she asked before drifting off to sleep.

"I'll do anything for you," Jellal responded, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. Poor Erza, what happened to her to make her this tired?

He heard a baby's cry from the other room.

_Wait, does Porlyusica have a kid or something? _She didn't seem like the type.

Porlyusica walked in the room with a baby in her arms. She sighed. "Erza, still sleeping I see." She said to herself, before noticing Jellal in the room.

"Ahhhh so you must be Jellal. I must say, you really do look just like Mystogan," she noted, eying his tattoo.

"Yeah," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, "that's a long story."

"Well now that the father is finally here, I don't have to worry about keeping this so secretive anymore, unless you and Erza decide to." Porlyusica said with relief. "You have no idea how hard it is keeping a secret like this from those dragon slayers and their noses."

"Father? Porlyusica, I- I'm not sure I understand what you're saying." Jellal stammered.

"I'm no fool, you are the only person it could possibly be. I know much more than I let on, you know."

Jellal looked at the baby in her arms, noticing the unmistakable blue tuft of hair, with the slightest undertone of red. He gasped without realizing it, his eyes wide in surprise. That was his and Erza's? It was an accident that his weakness had caused, but an accident he was quickly enamored with. He couldn't look away.

"Porlyusica, can we come in NOOOW?" Natsu begged at the door.

Jellal stood up and looked over at Porlyusica for her judgment. She gave him a "go ahead" nod, so he opened the door.

"Jellal! Wow, how are you doing buddy! We haven't seen you in a long time!" Natsu said with a grin, before looking at Porlyusica, "How come he got to be here first," he pouted. Lucy, knowing how important he was to Erza, put her hand on Natsu's shoulder.

"Natsu, let it go, trust me," she whispered.

"Okay," he sighed in defeat, and walked into the room, along with those who had been there on the trip when she passed out.

"So Jellal, just how long _have_ you been here, because I swear every time we've been here I've caught your scent, but I dismissed it, because it seemed kind of off." Natsu asked.

"Natsu!" Lucy scolded him.

"Actually I just arrived today" Jellal said, _Did he even smell like me too? What about Erza, does he smell like her too?_ He silently wondered.

Natsu eyed him suspiciously, before turning to Porlyusica.

"She's doing fine, right?" he asked.

"Absolutely, her magic energy, as well as her body, has been severely drained, but give it a couple more days of rest, and she will be good enough to go on missions again. However I wouldn't count on her doing that for a while even when she does get better." She explained, confusing the group.

"Why would she stop doing missions for a while?" Gray asked, clearly puzzled.

Porlyusica went up to Jellal and gently handed the child to him. "I'll let you explain" she said quietly, leaving the room.


	11. Chapter 11

Jellal looked down at the child in his arms, who was starting to wake up. The child opened its eyes and cooed when it looked at Jellal, reaching for his face. He smiled instantly, noticing he had Erza's eyes.

"Who is that?" Lucy asked.

Jellal was so lost in the child, that he almost didn't hear her. Without taking his eyes off the child, he answered, "It's Erza's and (he could feel the tears welling up in his eyes)… mine." Jellal had to take a moment to compose himself, while wiping the tears from his face.

"So THAT'S what I've been smelling. Congrats you two!" Nastu remarked with a grin.

"I can't believe it! That's so cute!" Lucy and Juvia squealed. _Maybe they'll __**actually**__ get together now_, Lucy thought to herself.

"Wow, Jellal, He sure looks like you, and he can't be more than a week old." Gray mused.

_I wonder if our children will resemble Gray the way theirs resemble Jellal_, Juvia thought to herself, turning pink at the thought. Gray noticed, but decided not to ask. He was terrified to know what that woman was thinking.

Porlyusica walked into the room, obviously hiding away until the news was out. "Actually, He is only a day old right now. I have to say the hair on this boy is astounding, considering how old he is. Most newborns are practically bald."

"I'm still confused though, how is it that Erza has been pregnant this whole time and we're just now finding out about it? I mean even she didn't seem like she knew," asked Natsu.

"She didn't. Every once in a while there has been phenomena about women who didn't realize they were pregnant until shortly before they gave birth. That was why she passed out, because she had over exerted herself without realizing it. She also must have failed to gain much weight due to her active lifestyle." She Explained.

"Well now it makes sense how she was able to rival Natsu when it came to eating recently," Lucy laughed.

"Hey everyone," Erza mumbled, waking up. She was glad all of her closest friends were here now. Her heart melted a bit when she looked over and saw Jellal holding their child. He looked absolutely captivated by the child. _Whoops_, she realized, _I forgot to tell him before I fell asleep_. She figured Porlyusica must have caught him up to speed.

"ERZA, EATING FOR TWO IS A DIRTY TRICK, BUT YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO TRULY BEAT ME WHEN IT COMES TO EATING! HAHAHA!" Natsu teased, pointing at Erza. _Well, he sure took to the news quick_, she thought.

"Well I didn't know! Anyways, what all happened when I passed out?" She asked.

"When you passed out, Natsu had Happy take you over here so you wouldn't be left defenseless against those guys," Gray explained, "But don't worry we gave them one hell of a fight." He smirked.

Natsu laughed, "Yeah! Turns out those idiots thought they would be getting some of the weaker members of Fairy Tail, but just our luck, we got to kick their asses instead" he said with a monstrous grin.

"The Leader went running, so Juvia and Gray followed him to their base. They had stolen armor and other supplies from the remnants of lone members of dark guilds, so I guess ambushing only a few at a time was just their style." Lucy explained.

"Yeah! Boy, Juvia and Gray sure were awesome at sneaking around! I wonder how they got so good at doing that" Happy cluelessly added, causing Gray and Juvia to glare at him.

Lucy found out Gray was good at sneaking around back at the S-Class Trial on Tenrou Island. But the rest of them laughed, knowing how Juvia got so good at sneaking around.

"Shhhh!" Jellal glared at them. Everyone looked confused, so he softly explained, "He's sleeping again."

He brought his son over to Erza, after all, he didn't want to monopolize the child that was as much hers as it was his. Without thinking, he pressed a kiss to Erza's cheek.

_I love you_, he said in his head.

"I love you too, Jellal." She said with a smile.

_Whoops, maybe it wasn't just in my head_.

"I'm so sorry though", he said sadly, "You deserve so much better, HE deserves so much better than to have an escaped convict, with such horrific deeds under his belt, as his father."

"Well then what do I deserve?" Erza snapped.

"You deserve everything Erza, your happiness should never cease, and you should have everything and anything you want and more." He responded.

"Well then don't tell me you're not what I deserve, because there's no one else I want." Erza said angrily.

He was going to argue with her, and explain that he needed to atone, and nothing he could do in this life could ever rid him of the debt he owed to society. But he thought of the first time he looked at his son, and how in that moment everything had changed for him. He realized that atonement was no longer his purpose in life. He had a new one.

* * *

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